Mid-life Ikigai and the Aries Equinox
Finding the intersection of love, talent, world's need and payment
Part 2 of my series on meaningful work in mid-life:
It’s interesting to think about reboots in mid-life, especially as our world is changing so rapidly and we’re having an acceleration of ‘wake-up’ energy incoming for the next three months, kicking off with the Pisces Super new Moon on March 10th.
I’ll be posting more about this influx of super energy we’ll be experiencing in a later post, but for today, I want to piggy back on my last post about paid work and how it dovetails with Ikigai (pronounced icky-guy), a Japanese concept long revered for it’s life enhancing wisdom. This is the intersection of work you love and are good at, that the world needs and will pay you for.
Here’s a short video that explains this concept:
Those of us in our 40s, 50s and beyond may initially think ‘this is for young people just starting out’, but as I’ve been talking with many people my age (mid-50s), I’m seeing a trend of fresh starts.
Mid-life is a prime time for a work-life makeover.
This becomes a strong theme as people near their second Saturn return around the age of 58/59. The siren call often starts around age 56.
The question becomes, What am I going to do with the later decades of my life to make the most of my time left here?
Another trend I’m seeing is that many of my age peers don’t need to worry as much about money. They have pensions, savings and retirement funds that will support them, or a spouse who has no intention of retiring from their paid work.
The typical stereotype for this time of life is the volunteer or the doting grandparent. But I’m seeing most women my age wanting to start new meaningful work, realizing they finally have time to do what they want.
We begin a new yearly cycle with the Aries Spring Equinox on March 19th, a time of fresh starts.
The energies present with the upcoming beginning to the astrological new year, and those continuing over the next three months, all support a recalibration. Now is the time to be thinking about how you want to be of service or make a difference in a new way!
The nodes in the Aries/Libra axis from July 2023 to January 2025 are asking us who we are. What’s our purpose in this life? What makes us feel alive and impactful?
For people in mid-life, these questions start to become loud again but with a twist added from years of experience and wisdom gained.
The Lunar South Node eclipse in Libra on March 25th will ask us to look at the shadow side of our identity. Where have we given away who we know ourselves to be at our core because of narratives controlled by others earlier in our life? Where have we let ourselves give up? When have we not spoken out for our truth about what we want our life to look like?
Once you release all those old ideas about what you ‘should’ do, you’re free to start again from a new empowered place.
Sharing your wisdom is important to the turning of the ages into Aquarius.
The wisdom we carry is incredibly useful to the collective and yet we’re often encouraged to take it easy and sit down. Hmmm, I wonder who would benefit from that narrative???
It’s not that this time needs to be a ramping up of a whole new career. That can feel exhausting to some.
What I feel is in right relationship with Soul purpose for this stage of life is to listen to the whispers of your intuition and to follow the nudges step by step. It doesn’t have to feel like pushing and efforting. New purpose can feel like fun, joy and excitement!!
This time of our lives can be some of the most meaningful if we’re willing to see ourselves through new eyes and let ourselves off the hook of old programming.
I’ll speak more about the ‘paid for your work’ concept of Ikigai in my next post, Part 3 on meainingful work in mid-life. I want to talk about making money in business from a different perspective than we normally hear.
To your great unfolding,
Kimberly